What sort of business model does O2 run I ask myself, as I found myself out of broadband allowance, after the sixth day of my monthly plan? I have 2 GB of 4g data each month and after using another 1 GB on “the works”, finding I was unable to renew this a second time, and being offered an “all-rounder” with only an additional 500mb, I was in despair. I spoke to the online chat and was given various links and suggested that I take out a contract, although I could renew “the works”, which I pointed out the option was unavailable.
So, what brought me to this dilemma? The sudden illness of my mother who is 86 years of age. I had to travel north to look after her and my father who is 90 years old. They don’t have broadband and for the first couple of weeks I was here I was practically bereft of a 21st Century existence and living in a vegetative state. I had managed to tether a Kindle to my phone and download a few books to read. I struggled to play my chess games on my recently purchased smart phone. I could receive emails and managed to read the Guardian, but as my parents are both deaf and frown upon the TV being on, that was my limit.
I increased my monthly contract from 1 GB of internet to the maximum on offer 2 GB and purchased a laptop. Tethering this to my mobile phone, with ease, how wonderful technology is today. The problem I soon encountered was the data consumption. I did not visit ‘YouTube’ or watch any videos, a quick visit to Facebook, a few additional programs and Office 365, chess games and the odd internet search. This still ate away at my data usage at an alarming rate. Although customer services did say that I had reached my limit that I was allowed for the month. I note that they have added an additional “the works” today giving me yet another 1 GB of data. So since the 17th of March a period of one week, I have consumed 4.5 GB of data.
My gripe is all this is what O2 think is reasonable for people to use. Being an older person, I make little use of TXT messages. I don’t make many phone calls, especially as the person I normally phone is my mother and at present I have little need to do so! Although communicating with her may be as easy on the phone, whilst I sit opposite, and wave from the other side of the room!
I spent a few hours going through what O2 offered in the way of mobile internet options, nothing appealed. I spent even more hours on comparison websites, comparing Dongles again with little results. Everything seems limited in available data and expensive as well. I eventually located a reasonable priced mobile Wi-Fi router that would take a sim card. Shopping around I found an excellent deal without long term commitments, from EE, to which I signed up.
By the end of the week and still with two weeks to go on my monthly allowance, I shall have as much data as I shall need. I will be able to watch videos or You Tube without the stress of wondering if I have reached my limit. It is a far more a cost effective solution to anything O2 are offering.
Therefore my point is what business model are O2 working from. Obviously one that assumes that data usage should be restricted to trivia such as Facebook. That an opportunity to make additional revenue with more generous packages, would give an unfair advantage to O2’s competitors. O2 is in my opinion short sighted in its approach to data availability. It assumes that every customer is young and limited in their scope and usage of the internet. That all their customers spend their day’s texting and sending selfies to friends or posting on Instagram.
Well I am on O2 customer in my 60th year, and I use the internet to keep myself informed and I require obviously a lot of data to achieve this objective. So the outshot of this is you O2 have lost a lot of potential revenue, to a rival in their market place. I am not the only person to have used tethering nor will I be in the future. Circumstances have forced this upon me, for the foreseeable future. The community matron that paid a visit the other day, did all he work by tethering her laptop to her mobile phone. Obviously she did not have an O2 contract, as she would be hard pressed to get through a few days before the limits were reached or she had bankrupted the local NHS.
O2 needs to find solutions to this issue, they need to consider and older market and what demands they have and offer a service accordingly. With more portable devices coming on the market all the time and the advancements in technology and people using the cloud more for everyday purposes. The demand for data usage will be increasing exponentially. Companies that stay complacent serving the existing need without innovation, tend to fall by the wayside. There have been many examples of this and it is a recognised phenomenon. Wake up and meet the challenge or end up extinct and become another company swallowed up by its more successful rival. You have an opportunity to innovate, then consider taking on imaginative people to lead the way.
